This Saturday is Valentine’s Day, which means that obvious and sometimes expensive proclamations of love—greeting cards, roses, chocolates, jewelry—will be everywhere. Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, you can probably agree there are different levels of observation among those that do. Some couples who feel passionately about it will be springing for bottles of champagne and dining by candlelight (read: shelling out some serious cash), and others will just exchange a simple “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
When it comes to gauging customer and employee passion, it’s the same thing. While your most passionate customers and employees won’t show it by showering you with chocolates and flowers, they will show it by going all out in a way that helps your bottom line—being loyal and engaged, posting about you on social media, and singing your praises to friends and family.
You may wonder why you need to measure passion if you’re already measuring satisfaction. It’s simple. Passionate customers and employees behave differently than ones who are merely satisfied. For example, satisfied customers may be pleased by your product or service, but they’re also not smitten with it. They’re susceptible to being swooned by your competition whenever it becomes cheaper or more convenient for them. The same goes for employees who are only satisfied. While they enjoy working for your organization, they’re not necessarily posting stellar reviews on Glassdoor.com or stopping themselves from checking out other jobs.
But passion is a different story—a love story. Customers and employees who are passionate about your organization are more likely to reject outside temptation. They don’t seek deals at competitors or put feelers out for new gigs. They’re evangelists who love, trust and can't stop blabbering about you to their friends.
Harvard Business Journal’s Tim Halloran came up with three statements intended to capture a consumer’s passion, but they also work for gauging an employee’s. Ask these three questions, and provide a seven-point scale for respondents to select from (strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree, neither agree nor disagree, somewhat disagree, disagree, strongly disagree) to find your passion score.
- X is a brand for me.
- X is a brand I can trust.
- X is a brand I enjoy introducing to other people. (A better employee version for this statement would be, I enjoy talking to other people about my company.)
In addition to asking respondents to rate their level of agreement with these statements, ask them to elaborate after each one by giving them an open-ended text box. Discover what inspires passion in your most passionate customers and employees, so you can double down on your strengths and begin the process of eliminating weaknesses. Also, track passion overtime to make sure you’re keeping the spark alive.
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